Reflections in pictures of a proud dockyard town (From Western Telegraph)

Reflections in pictures of a proud dockyard town

EVEN a relative newcomer to Pembroke Dock - Ive only lived here for 20 years - would find it almost impossible to stop dipping into local author John Evans book Pembroke Dock Reflections.

The book is an eclectic collection of old photographs and postcards illustrating just how much the dockyard town has changed in the past century - and never more so than in the last 25 years.

The town has evolved slowly into the way it appears today. Most of the changes have been gradual, but when presented together it becomes apparent that there has been a dramatic upheaval in both the towns fortunes - and its appearance.

Studying the pictures of the towns main shopping thoroughfare - Dimond Street - it was amazing to see how things have changed and how businesses have come and gone.

Most people would say that the town centre has been stuck in a time warp - but the camera never lies, and the changing face of the Pembroke Dock is startling.

Large chunks of the book are dedicated to the Dockyard - for so long the hub of the town, and certainly its closure in the 1920s heralded a time of deep depression for the locality.

There is a superb picture of workers leaving through the Dockyard gates in 1906 - it would be only 20 years later that the gates shut for the last time. Subsequently, part of the Dockyard was taken over by the RAF and it became the largest flying-boat base in the world. But after the RAFs departure in 1959, it was not until the 1970s that the Dockyard was given a new lease of life with the arrival of the B+I Irish ferry terminal.

There are also many pictures marking significant events in the towns history - the opening of the Coronation School - now a further education centre; the launching of HMS Boadicea in 1908; the horror of war with the bombing of the Admiraltys oil storage epot at Llanreath, and the first visit of HM the Queen in 1955.

Other pictures are fascinating because they show a town and its people going about their daily business. As the years pass and the pictures become more up-to-date the influence of the motor car becomes more apparent, and there are many poignant photographs of significant Pembroke Dock landmarks meeting their doom.

Each I opened this book, I found another picture that awakened memories -its the sort of publication that remains fresh for many years, that seems to have another hidden gem on every page. For natives, ex-pats and anyone interested in social history this book is a must.

Pembroke Dock Reflections is published by Paterchurch Publications and is available from local bookshops price £8.95; or direct from the publishers, at 6 Laws Street, Pembroke Dock, SA72 6DL, price including p and p £9.95.